Video: Designing a front porch and building the porch structure

Now it's time to start developing our front porch. And whenever you're going to be developing a porch structure, you always need to think of three main things. One is where is that porch going to be located at and its shape and just the way it's going to look. Number two, you need to think about what's going to be supporting that porch. In this case, we're going to have some exterior walls that are going to be supporting our front porch area. Three, what's going to be holding up those entities that are going to be supporting that porch.

Designing a House in Revit Architecture examines the construction modeling and design documentation process from start to finish in Autodesk Revit Architecture. CAD support specialist Brian Myers shows how to build plans for an American-style bungalow from scratch using the tools in Revit. By the end of the course, designers will have built a model of a multi-level residence and created multiple sheets in the design documentation set, as well as sections, details, and schedules.

Prerequisites: An understanding of the CAD-modeling process and experience with Revit will ensure you get the most from this course.

Designing a front porch and building the porch structure

Now it's time to start developing our front porch.And whenever you're going to be developing a porch structure, you always need tothink of three main things.One is where is that porch going to be located at and its shape and just theway it's going to look.Number two, you need to think about what's going to be supporting that porch.In this case, we're going to have some exterior walls that are going to besupporting our front porch area.Three, what's going to be holding up those entities that are going to besupporting that porch.

In this case, we're going to have some footings on the underneath side of thesefoundation walls, and of course, those foundation walls hold up the structure of the porch.So let's go ahead and start drawing in the actual structure of the porch.It's going to be almost a classic wraparound porch because it's going to come in this direction.We'll wrap around the building and wrap back in this direction again.Then we'll end up having foundation walls to take a very similar path rightaround the perimeter of that porch that we've created.

And then finally, we'll slap really fast some footings on the bottom of it inorder to hold this whole structure up.So let's begin by drawing the porch.In order to do this, there aren't any porch tools, so we need to use a floor,and when you think about it, a porch really is no more than a floor that's onthe outside of your building, and in order to be able to draw that information in.So let's come up here, select on Floor.In this case, using the Floor Deck is going to be just fine.We're just going to create the same kind of deck that we had on the back of ourbuilding, except we're going to be using it for our front porch;in this case, out here in the front.

So I am going to select on that; make sure you have Deck.The Level is going to be First Floor and the Height Offset of -4 inch just likewe did with the deck on the back.This is going to be just fine.It'll be a step down from this location down onto our front porch.Now I am going to zoom in to this part of our building.I am going to clear out this check mark here that says Extend into wall (to core), becausewe don't really want it to go into the wall at all.

It's just going to follow the outside edge of this wall.I am going to select on the Line tool now, and start to draw in the outsidedimensions of our porch.This is going to come straight down, and it's going to come down 6 feet.Next, move over 22 feet 2 inches.Now we're going to come straight up, and I don't really know what this exactdimension is going to be.So I am just going to come up about 8 feet, and we'll kind of fix this in just a moment.

Once you've drawn this is in, go ahead and hit the Escape key a couple times toget out of that portion of the command.Now I know that the next section of the porch needs to come over 14 feet in this direction.So we're going to have 14 feet from here, a line that comes off of here andcomes straight down, and the dimension of that line is going to be 6 feet justlike it was over here.So in order to be able to do this, I am going to actually select on this modelline, and I am going to copy it--here over 14 feet.

Consider this our guideline for where this line is going to need to go.I also have this line that's 8 feet now sitting over here.Let's just go ahead and make this 6 feet.Since we have a 6-foot line suddenly available; it's in essentially the rightlocation. All we have to do is move it up so it's touching the brick.So now I am going to select on the Move command. Click on the little endpointright here, and just drag it straight up.Next, select the Line tool and come over.

I am going to get out of that command by hitting Escape a couple of times, andnow I am going to use the Trim/Extend tool in order to bring these two linestogether to a point just like that.Now this needs to be one continuous line if you follow this line all the way around.So we need to draw a line over here, back down, and back to the endpoint again.It's always nice to zoom in when in doubt.Zoom out and zoom back in, and finish that up.

Now that we've done that, we can click on the big green check mark, and we'll havethe floor of our front porch completed.Now it's currently just floating in midair, so we need to put some foundationwalls underneath it.So I am going to go to a different view that's going to allow us to do that alittle bit more easily.In this case, I am going to go to the Top of Footing Porch level right here andjust double-click on that.Now this floor plan has an interesting color configuration going on with it.In order to change that so it looks proper, I am just going to come down here tothe Detail Level and change it to be a Fine level of detail.

Now if we start to zoom in here, we can start to see the individual layersof material; something that we wouldn't have been able to see at theprevious detail level.Now this first foundation wall that I want to draw in; it's just going to be alittle 3 inches off the end of this wall.What I am going to do is I am going to use my Annotate tools like I've done insome of the previous parts of the building.I am going to choose on Detail Line.I am going to select on this line right here and I am going to draw this 3inches in this direction, and I am just going to draw a little line that goesstraight down from there.

Now this is just going to be a reference line for me.I'll delete that little extra line because I don't need it anymore.Now I am going to come up here to the Home tab, and I am going to select on my Wall tools.The wall that's going to be our foundation wall going around the perimeter ofour porch is just going to be this foundation.I am going to select on the endpoint here.Something you'll notice is if you just start to draw it, you might not see anything.But what's going on here is this.If I hit the Escape key to get out of just that drawing function, you'll noticethat there's a Base Offset currently here.

Well, this Base Offset isn't right, it shouldn't be 8 feet.This would be like 8 foot above where we really wanted to be at, or maybe it'smore like 7 feet above where we really wanted to be at.So as a result of that, we need to drop this Base Offset way, way down and thebase offset in this case is going to be 1 foot.Next, there's a Top Constraint involved here and that Top Constraint is going toneed to be--consider the Top of Foundation--very much like the other foundationwalls that we've created.One difference to that though is that the Top Offset to this is going to be 4 inches down.

Why 4 inches you might ask.Well, that's the same offset distance that our porch has, 4 inches down from thetop of that floor down.So we're just sort of mirroring that same offset that our porch up above has.That being said, we should be in good shape now, and we'd start drawing this in.So if I select on this line now, here we can see the representation of thatfoundation wall, and I am just going to bring this up here toward the edge of the brick.I could actually tie it into my foundation if I wish.In fact, now that I am looking at it, I think I will actually just tie it rightup next to where the-- it's not actually brick here;it's going to be siding.

So we'll put it right up to the face of that.Next, I am going to select on this, and I am just going to kind of drag it down,and you can see how that just extends this wall on down.Now I know that this wall actually just needs to be 5 foot 6 down fromthat point that it's at.So I am going to draw once again just another line that I can use as areference, so a Detail Line here, and I am going to draw that one 5 foot 6down from that point.I don't need that line anymore, and I am just going to bring this one straightdown, and now I know that that went to the right location.

I'll get rid of that last little reference line that I drew in there, and nowwe're going to draw in some more walls.Once again, make sure that this information is the same as it was before.Usually, it'll be safe but every once in a while it'll reset itself.Now I am going to select on the endpoint of this and come in this direction.I am going to hit the spacebar to flip that wall to the other side, and now I amgoing to draw this wall 21 feet 2 inches in this direction.

And this is going to achieve the sort of design aesthetic that I want for thefront of our building.I could've brought this over another foot to sort of match this one overhere, but I think it just sort of gives it a better look with the dimensionthat we currently have.The next line or next wall that we need to draw up, it needs to come up 9 feet 8inches straight up, so 9 feet 8 inches.Next, I am going to come straight over, and this is going to need to be 14 feet 4 inches.

And then finally, I am going to come up to here and match the same quality thatI had over here, except I am just going to bring this just directly up to theface of the brick and stop it right there.So that we're on the same page as to what it is that's been accomplished upto this point, let's take a look at this in a 3D view so we get a better look at it.So far, so good.Now a couple little things that we still need to address--one thing that I don't like.One is that now we've brought this right up to the face of siding, andreally I'd like that siding to be just raised up just a little bit, and this -1foot 8 extension isn't going to really work very well for that.

So what I am going to do is I am going to change this Base Extension to be -4inches instead, and it's raised the siding on the outside of this wall back up sothat it's clearing a lot of the structural members and other things that couldbe getting in the way of it, and you just wouldn't have the siding usually framedright to that point on the porch.So I am just going to raise that up so that it's constructed a little bit better.I am going to do the same thing here and make this be just -4 inches. Bring itup so it's essentially level with the face of the porch.

It's also going to make it a little bit easier to tie it into thestructure behind it, since we're not going to be going to the siding toget that accomplished.Next thing I am going to do is I need to put the footings on the underside ofthese walls, or else they're just going to sink in and the porch is eventuallygoing to collapse, which is obviously never a good thing.So I am going to rotate this around in a 3D view, select on the structure, andthen I am going to come to the Wall Foundation tab here.Make sure that this is a 30x12, so it's the same kind of footings we havegoing around the perimeter of the building, and just click each and every oneof these locations.

Now if we look at this back from a more top view, this has given us the porchthat we might expect or the kind of design for the porch that we might expect.It's down far enough that if we started having ice and different things,it's still going to be able to not collapse.It's not going to move up and down.It's still going to be a nice strong structural porch here.And once we get a little bit further developed lawn, start adding columns,start adding a roof, we'll have a good functioning front porch to deal with.

I do want to say about this porch that once we've got to this stage, we have thefootings in, we have the foundation wall in, and we have the actual porch itselfin, and it's looking really nice and good--from an aesthetic point of view aswell as a functional point of view.We have a nice strong front porch that's going to be the centerpiece of thefront elevation of our building.

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